A Boy, a Dog Girl and a Winter Wonderland: Part One

Zack sat in the back seat of the Bollinger truck, puffy jacket doing its best to provide him warmth. Honey sat beside him, breath coming out in visible puffs as she pressed into him with her furry dog form. Luca sat at the other end, breathing on the glass and tracing shapes into it.

“Sorry about the heat,” Gratham said, trying to sound cheerful.

“Hey, we volunteered to help on this material run,” Zack said.

“I’m not cold at all!” Honey said.

“Are you lying?”

“I am lying.”

Honey cuddled into Zack harder.

“I don’t know how we missed checking to see if the heat was working,” Helline said, banging the console to get the decrepit mechanism to eke out what little heat it could.

“You don’t know? Mother, you and father spent the past three nights marveling at a potion which could sustain body combustion with a twenty seven percent greater efficiency index.”

“Yes! Why, with only a few extra materials and a drop of blue sorcite, we could…”

Helline met the eyes of the three children.

“You don’t care.”

“No, I don’t think they care,” Gratham said.

“I wish I had the potion,” Zack said into Honey’s neck scruff.

They had been asked to help the Bollingers with their supply run to the port city of New Bosh the previous week. Chistos had disguised it as a vacation.

“It will be three days off with little actual parental supervision! A day trip there, some crate loading into their trucks, eating some famous New Bosh seafood, a day trip back…”

“Uh huh. And it gives you and Chista some alone time to bask in your rekindled closeness,” Zack said as he lounged on the couch, Honey curled up on him.

“It also gives us time to shop for your Night of the New Dawn presents,” Chista said.

“Ah, the not-Christmas to match your not-Halloween,” Zack said. “What do you think, Honey? Three days with the Bollingers?”

“It sounds like fun!”

It was not as fun as they had hoped.

Zack tried to take his mind off the chill by looking out the window while Honey read a catalog of potions the Bollingers had created. The snow covered fields stretched on into the distance, at times broken by small towns of simple houses or patches of woods filled with bare trees.

“Animal potions. You have experience with those, sweetheart. Gender change. Age change. Beauty enhancer. Beauty theft? This one seems mean.”

“You’d be surprised at how many women want to look more plain,” Helline said.

“Heck, all potions can be weaponized in one way or another. It’s part of my Ethics in Alchemy class,” Gratham proudly proclaimed, raising his chin slightly in pride.

“Sometimes I forget you’re a professor and not simply the downstairs whack job,” Zack said

“Note how your description does not deny the reality of their being whack jobs,” Luca said.

“Oh don’t grumble, son! At least you won’t have to test any of our potions for a few days!” Gratham happily cheered.

“How many of these have you tested?” Honey asked.

“Pretty much all of them,” Luca sighed.

“Even the animal ones?”

“I was stuck as a house cat for a week last summer.”

“The gender one?”

“He looked so cute in the little purple dress…” Helline sighed.

“I forced them to burn the pictures,” Luca growled.

“So why do you let your parents experiment on you like this, bro?” Zack asked, half paying attention as the winter landscape passed by.

“You make it sound like the boy has no choice,” Gratham said, a slight chuckle in his voice.

“Well…does he?”

“Of course I do.” Luca adjusted his glasses, looking Zack in the eyes as he turned his head. “My parents are manic fools most of the time, but they are also two of the most brilliant people I…”

This was the moment the truck began to violently shake.

“What?! Come on! No no no no no! I fixed this!” Gratham slowly piloted the truck towards the side of the road, gently crashing into a snowbank.

“You checked the sorcite power hose?” Helline asked.

“Twice!”

“Magical spark chambers?”

“Brushed and flushed!”

“Cylinder case?”

“Held together with glue, but it’s working!”

The truck gave another small lurch. A puff of multicolored smoke wafted up from the engine.

“Apparently it isn’t,” Luca said dryly.

Warm air started blasting out of the vents as Gratham banged his head on the steering wheel.

“Well…at least the heater is working now,” Zack said.

Gratham sighed and pulled out a small black orb from his pocket. He pushed its top and it expanded slightly. “Call Kull,” Gratham said. An image appeared a moment later of a man in a separate truck. “Kull…”

“Your truck broke down, didn’t it?”

“Don't act smug. I’m paying you. Look, get the other four trucks the New Bosh. I’ll probably be about a day delayed.”

“You owe me chowder, Professor Kaboom.”

“Yeah yeah. Safe trip.” Gratham rubbed his finger over the top of the orb and the image disappeared.

“Professor Kaboom?” Zack asked.

“Long story. His eyebrows grew back. Mostly.” Gratham clapped his hands. “Okay! We adapt and overcome! Looks like we’re camping tonight!”

“Camping?” Zack asked as they began to pile out into the snow. “I’ve never actually…um…”

“Weren’t you found in the woods?” Helline asked.

“Yup! It’ll be fun, right sweetheart?” Honey cheered.

“Right. Fuuuuuuunnnnnnn…”